A Cloud Before the Moon

Chapter 29

Davy Adams sat on his living room couch. He glared at the contemptible creature who lay bound and gagged at his feet, and suppressed an urge to bring his truncheon down on the man's head again. It occurred to him that a nice tall glass of whiskey would be quite agreeable, but he suppressed that urge as well.

The bedroom door flew open abruptly and Snape charged into the living room in an absolute rage. He grabbed Bailey by the collar and pulled him upwards, shaking him violently. "Wake up! Wake up, you worthless hag-spawn!" He removed the gag from the man's mouth.

Bailey began to moan and groan, further enraging Snape, who slammed Bailey's head against the floor.

"Severus!" called Adams in alarm. "What's the matter?"

Snape let go of Bailey and ran into the kitchen. Adams followed him and found Snape sitting with his face buried in his hands. After several silent moments he looked up. There were dark circles under his eyes. "She doesn't recognize me. Has no idea who I am. No idea."

"Memory charm?" As if the question needed asking.

"Obviously," Snape responded dully.

Adams did not know what to say. He was sorry he had persuaded Snape to spare Bailey's life. The man had ruined at least three lives that he knew of, and seemed to have no remorse about it.

He knew what had happened to Mick McCullough and Ronnie Farrell, but, he thought, maybe the effect was different on a witch. "Is there any chance she still has some memory?"

"I doubt it. I have known her since we were children; since she doesn't know me, even her long-term memory has been Obliviated." Snape slammed his hand on the table. "What could he possibly have gained from that? Or maybe he's just too damned stupid to know how to properly focus a memory charm and too irresponsible to care. That is the worst part."

"Stupidity?"

"No." Snape leaned forward, as if he were sharing an important secret. "Irresponsibility. If your actions will have horrific consequences - then you'd better have a good reason for them, a damned good reason." His mouth twisted unpleasantly. "I do not think personal dislike is a valid reason for murder, do you?"

Adams could not imagine what 'personal dislike' had to do with anything, but Snape seemed very agitated.

"No, of course not. You don't kill somebody because you don't like him."

"Exactly right! That is my point!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "Shouldn't it be obvious?"

"Right, sure, well...." He cleared his throat. "Letha told me you were childhood friends."

"That is true. She was probably my only real friend, and do you know how I thanked her, Mr. Adams? I never spoke a single word to her at school; in fact, I avoided her at all times."

"Why? She wasn't part of your social crowd? Or you were just a jerk?"

Snape grimaced, but then his shoulders sank. He looked miserable. "A bit of both, I suppose. But I swear, I thought I was protecting her. My 'social circle'", he sneered, "included some rather unsavory characters."

"Why didn't you just avoid them?"

He shook his head. "That would have been impossible. You have no idea...."

Adams looked at him with disgust. "Of course I have an idea. Snape. I'm a cop. How often have I heard the same story -"

"Not exactly." Snape shook a finger at him. "I assure you, you have never run into anyone quite like Lucius Malfoy."

"That the Dark Lord you told me about?"

"No, that was not Malfoy. Malfoy is not a powerful wizard; he harbors no great mastery of the magical arts. What he has is money, name, connections, and no scruples."

Adams was clearly not impressed.

"Yes I know, I could be describing any one of a great many people, Wizard or Muggle. But Malfoy has something else. He drank of a potion that allows him to have an effect on people - the creator of the accursed formula put it best; it gives him the power to "bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses."

Nonsense, thought Adams. "Only if you allow him. Only if you're willing to be controlled."

Snape was silent for several moments. "Perhaps that is true. But then I think I ought to tell you, Mr. Adams, that our dear Miss Faraday was not immune."

Adams frowned. "Is that why you couldn't forgive her? Whatever this Malfoy persuaded her to do, she's been waiting a long time for you to forgive her. Why? Did he persuade her to commit some terrible crime?"

Snape shifted uncomfortably. "Not really. Of course not. Letha wouldn't do that."

"Maybe you were just afraid she wouldn't forgive you?"

"Oh, that is rubbish! Clearly you do not understand."

"You're right about that. But that's your problem to deal with, isn't it?"

"There is a more concrete problem to deal with, I'm afraid. Thanks to you, I didn't leave Bailey to die."

Adams nearly choked. "I'm sorry I dissuaded you from murder, but you'll admit, it wasn't hard to do. Give yourself some credit, Snape - having a conscience is nothin' to be ashamed of."

"You know what he's done. He deserved to die, wouldn't you say?" Adams had the distinct impression that Snape was looking to him for approval. The problem was, he really wasn't sure himself.

"Well, he certainly deserves punishment, anyways. Don't you people have prisons? Er - some kind of magical prisons?"

"Oh yes. And I assure you, we have a prison that would be a fitting punishment indeed. But we have a bit of a problem, haven't we?"

"What do you mean?"

"Bailey works at the Ministry, supposedly defending the world from those who have done evil things" "Such as myself", he added, nodding in mock acknowledgment. "Miss Faraday is incapacitated from explaining what he has done to her. Who will be sent to prison do you suppose, a congenial but dim-witted Ministry bureaucrat with no known criminal history, or a confessed Death Eater, trusted by no one and generally detested?" He emitted a sort of dispirited laugh.

"I suppose they'd put no credence in what I have to say...."

"You'd suppose correctly. I could have - put some sort of spell on you, after all."

"Right. We have to assume I'm just a stupid Muggle - too thick-headed to think for myself."

"You catch on quickly, for a thick-headed Muggle. And even if, by some chance, your testimony was given due consideration, and the truth were known, there would be a different concern...."

Adams lifted his head. "I thought I heard something. Is Letha all right?" Snape stood up too, and they both hurried into the living room. Letha knelt on the ground, wrapped in a towel, trying to untie Bailey's feet. She looked up, startled, as they ran in.

Snape reached out his hand to her. "Come here, Letha."

"I will not!" she shouted defiantly. "Nobody should be treated that way! Did YOU tie him up?" She turned her accusing stare to Adams. "Or you? This is inexcusable!"

"You heard her, Snape, you'd better untie me." Bailey already had one free hand, and was working on the other. "You know you're in serious trouble - between Azkaban & Lucius Malfoy - I'm not sure which I'd be more worried about. Perhaps we can work something out to our mutual benefit."

Without bothering to respond, Snape pulled out his wand. "Ensnarum agutis!" Thorny vines blossomed all over Bailey's body, twisting and winding their way around him. Bailey writhed in pain and when he began screaming, Adams nonchalantly shoved a large stale tea biscuit in his mouth to shut him up.

Letha clutched at the vines, tearing her fingers on the thorns. "Stop it! Stop it!" she shouted. Adams pulled her away, but she kicked him in the groin and ran off into the bedroom. When she returned, several moments later, she was holding her wand pointed at Snape. "One move, and I swear I'll - I'll - "

"What, Letha?' he asked softly. "What will you do?"

She shook her head furiously. "I don't know! I don't remember what to do with this damn thing!" She threw it down in frustration.

"This might help." He handed her a small glass of liquid with a greenish tint. She examined it suspiciously, shrugged and drank it. An expression of awareness returned to her eyes. "Severus?" she asked quizzically. She looked around, bemused. "Davy? You're alright then?" He nodded. "Thank goodness. Bailey told me he'd taken away your memory."

"No, he - he got the wrong person."

She looked at Bailey in disgust. "You really are troll-dung! Ruining people's lives like that! " Adams and Snape exchanged doleful glances, and Letha looked from one to the other of them apprehensively. "Now I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for all of this? What am I doing standing here in nothing but a towel, gabbing with the two of you, and our good mate Georgie trussed up like a Christmas turkey?"

Both men avoided her eyes. "Severus, why can't I remember how I got here?" Her eyes grew wide with alarm as she ran her tongue over her lip. "Is that pepperwort I taste?"

"It is."

"Now as I recall, that's used to treat hiccoughs or - it might be part of - isn't that an ingredient in a memory charm antidote?"

"Yes," he answered softly. She stood silently, absorbing the implications. Finally, she asked, matter-of-factly, "Will the antidote last long?"

"No, I'm sorry, Letha, it will not. We haven't much time at all before it wears off. You have to tell me what happened."

"No!" she said firmly.

"No?"

"No. I'm not interested in talking. Kiss me!" she ordered.

"Now?!?" he asked. "But there's no time to waste."

"Oh, you're right about that. Please kiss me, Severus - now, while I can recognize you. I mean, you don't have to, of course. Only if you want to. NOT if you think it's a waste of time." Her cheeks reddened.

They stood gaping at each other with mutual embarrassment. Finally, he stepped forward resolutely, and whispered something in her ear that made her smile. With a conscious effort, Adams focused his attention on Bailey, and caught him staring in wide-eyed astonishment. Adams shoved him with his foot, just hard enough to elicit a groan of pain. "Mind your own business", he growled.

Snape and Letha disappeared into the bedroom.

Davy Adams smiled wryly. "Go on", he muttered, "pay no attention to my feelings."